Matthias Grosse Perdekamp

The Loomis Confessions: Matthias Grosse Perdekamp

If you couldn’t be a physicist, what career would you choose? 

I considered studying history or politics in Freiburg or Heidelberg. I love learning about international relations, and I am a big admirer of the UN and the EU. If it wasn't for Physics, Urbana and CERN, I might be working in Brussels or Geneva.

What is your favorite place? 

Outside Loomis? Vermont, the Black Forest and Geneva!

What is the greatest scientific blunder in history?

Don't waste your time on regrets over past mistakes!

Who is/are your favorite artist(s) in any medium—painters, composers, authors, filmmakers? 

Vivaldi at Saint Chapelle, Bach anywhere, Gershwin, Turner, French Impressionists, Rodin. 

Who is/are your favorite hero(es) in life or in fiction? 

Abraham Lincoln, Marie Curie, French Statesman Robert Schuman, Sophie Scholl of the White Rose.

Who is/are the villain(s) you love to hate? 

Robert Oppenheimer, Yoshio Nishina and Werner Heisenberg, principal scientists of WW II nuclear weapon efforts in the US, Japan and Germany.

What is your idea of happiness? 

I am not sure I know. But then, citing Albert Camus: "You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.”  

What is your idea of misery? 

Populism, Corruption, Authoritarianism, War! 

What quality do you most admire in others? 

Courage.

What scientific question do you hope will be answered in your lifetime? 

Is someone else out there?